The present invention relates to an apparatus for limiting a load across a cable repair region while preventing a cable sheath from being pulled out of a closure enclosing the cable repair region.
Oftentimes electric cables, especially aerial telephone cables, are repaired so to form a repair region therein, such repairs being necessitated for example subsequent to splicing electrical conductors within the cable, providing drops for various ones of the electrical conductors, etc. The repair region includes an apparatus for enclosing first and second cable sheath ends confronting opposite sides of the repair region as well as the repair region itself, the enclosure apparatus being designed to prevent or minimize environmental contaminants from entering the cable repair region or entering either one of the first and second cable ends, a common environmental contaminant being water.
In case of aerial cable repair regions, oftentimes the enclosure apparatus is installed during warmer months when it is more convenient to repair outside plant equipment. In this case, a problem exists in the art during colder months since a drop in temperature from that which existed when the enclosure apparatus was installed causes the cable sheath to contract and tend to pull out of the enclosure apparatus so as to expose at least one of the ends of the cable sheath to the environment.
Prior art attempts to solve this problem have included the use of a low tensile strength braided mesh which easily expands when subjected to an axial tensile load of a pound or so, with an expanded length of the mesh being such that when fully expanded neither cable sheath end is pulled out of the enclosure apparatus. However, though this solution works fine so long as the mesh is not fully expanded, a problem exists subsequent to the mesh being fully expanded since it then fails in tension thus allowing one or the other of the cable sheath ends to be pulled out of the enclosure apparatus, the mesh having negligible internal strength.